What Did achievements/trophies Do to gaming?

[MetalBaird]

i dont see a reason for me to shut up, seeing as this is quite an interesting topic. i genuinly want to know why people like, or dislike achievements/trophies and want to know what thjey thing about gaming history.

 

[reaper_2k9]

Before achievements I played games because they were fun or had an engrossing story line. I like achievements but it seems, at least for me, that I'm compelled to try and get all the achievements I can.

Its not a bad thing but when I see other people on XBL with these massive gamer scores and almost every achievement unlocked for the games they are playing is a bit daunting.

Achievements are nice but I can do without them.

I know what you mean, the whole fact of, you think your doing well to the standard in your mind, thenb some1 else doing alot better, its a pretty bad feeling! happened to em mannnnny times!
achievements can be about challeneges ect, like trying to find whatever where ever or get a certain amount of headshots with whatever gun in single player can be fun, but to difficult then it becomes daunting and to easy becomes a pisstake!
Where is the middle ground?!

That's how I feel you start to play a game you like and just going through the story and everything and then its like you feel obligated get all the achievements you can.

That to me takes the fun out of a game if the reason I'm playing over and over again is to unlock achievements instead of I really enjoyed the game enough to want to play itr again.

 

[Xan Krieger]

To me every time I complete an achievement it lets me know I'm progressing in the game rather then going nowhere. It's like checkpoints the let me know I'm going in the right direction.

 

[RantCasey]

To me every time I complete an achievement it lets me know I'm progressing in the game rather then going nowhere. It's like checkpoints the let me know I'm going in the right direction.

I like that. I'm going to agree with that on some achievements. 100,000 kills in Gears 2 is no checkpoint though that's just redonkulous.

 

[The Ghost]

Thinking about it now, early in the morning, while intoxicated while chatting to a friend while listening to the metal gear solid 2/3 theme.
Why did we play games before achievements/trophies came out? I think we played the games back in the day for well, I dont know, the story gave way after one or two play throughs. Cheats when unlocked did what? made us replay the game with funny heads or unbelieveably unfair ammo/health. What changes have been made? Why do we regard any game without achievements/trophies as a waste of time now compared to the old days?
I want to hear your thoughts on this
Baird

I disagree with you. Single player games can be fun if they're played over as long as the game won't be the same thing over and over. When I played doom as a toddler I remember going through the levels over and over until I found all of the secrets. Achievements and trophies are merely an evolution of the secrets system.

 

[Some_Jackass]

Achievments in a non competitive atmosphere are good, they push the gamer to do things they normally wouldnt shoot for in a game...like play Gears 2 story mode 4 times...

or ya no once on normal and once on insane...but hey if you want to play it 4 times be my guest

normal and insane, sure...but lets not forget casual and hardcore modes as well...those get achievments as well, ya know

 

[Flack]

I find achievements give the extra incentive to play a game. When i made my xbox live account, i had no achievements or gamer points, so i used that as an excuse to crack open all the old games i hadn't played in ages.

 

[Christemo]

its so people plays it longer, plays it better because they go for a goal in a longer time. online it proves ur cool . i just got my Jump Shot achievement in L4D where i headshotted a jumping hunter, with pistols :=

 

[Hamster at Dawn]

I can still play games without achievements but then I feel almost like I'm wasting time that could be spent playing games with achievements. I like earning achievements, God knows why, maybe I secretly wish I could win a pissing contest.

 

[pha kin su pah]

They are amusing for me, just something to do while bored. I generally go for some of the more fun achievements like in Halo 3, Gears 2, Left 4 Dead. But i'm not going to go have a fit and try to do all the them.

I also enjoy the effort that developers go to giving them snappy and humourous titles.

 

[Acaroid]

I dont know, in some way achivements are a cool thing, but on teh other hand, they may make game desginers kinda lazy and not put extra content in... I remember playing res evil 2, making it through the game without a save so I could play as a piece of tofu XD But now if I did that all I would get is an achivement? I admit some are cool (like the hl2 gnome one) but im kinda on the fence I can see the good, but it also has a bad side...

 

[DirkGently]

Why do we regard any game without achievements/trophies as a waste of time now compared to the old days?

Who the hell does that? I play games now for the same reason I did when I was eight. To have fun.

 

[TopHatTim]

I like them, its just a way to play for a little bit longer, some games shouldnt have them at all but w/e.

people who say they are stupid, thats their choice they dont like the idea of having second accomplishments in a game.

 

[mattttherman3]

Gave me extra incentive to beat em, but I have someone on my friends list who gets them all, it took him over a month to get all the achievements for Ninja Gaiden 2.

 

[bjj hero]

They enhance the experience of those who care without hindering the experience of the nes who don't. They add replayability and challenge to games when used properly(Avatar:TBE or whatever is an example of poorly executed). What's the down side? None.

Online achievements do hinder other peoples games. There are loads of examples but th most common is playing team games where one player refuses to use good weapons because he needs x amount of knife/pistol/shotty/melee kills for anachievement. It affects everyone on his team.

Gamerscore is for 12 year olds who dont know we played games before the current generation of consoles and acheivements. They dont matter.

Case in point, I have all of the civ achievements and still keep playing it cos i love it, it has loads ofvreplay value. CoD:WaW ive had since release day and ive got 150 gamer score because i only play online as the campaign bored me.

 

[scnj]

Achievements can be fun and I like unlocking them but it'll always take a back seat to finishing a game to see how it ends. Also, I ended up disabling notifications on my 360 because I'd just be getting immersed in a game and suddenly "*boop* achievement unlocked! ^_^" would pull me straight back out. Now I only look at my gamerscore when I quit the game.

 

[mr mcshiznit]

Achievments in a non competitive atmosphere are good, they push the gamer to do things they normally wouldnt shoot for in a game...like play Gears 2 story mode 4 times...

or ya no once on normal and once on insane...but hey if you want to play it 4 times be my guest

normal and insane, sure...but lets not forget casual and hardcore modes as well...those get achievments as well, ya know

ok but what i'm saying is that if you beat it on insane it unlocks that and hardcore and everything under it. Same with hardcore when you beat it it will unlock all campaign based ach. under it. So you just kind of did alot of extra work. But more power to you if you had fun.

 

[Archemetis]

it gives people like me, who don't even think about trying to get trophies some sense of inflated achievement when they've done something in the game and are further rewarded for doing it, it's like "Hey, that was pretty cool what i just did, hey wait... achievement unlocked? Awesome..."

But really i'd prefer it if the achievement points did soemthing other then just gather on your profile thing and just show people that you had enough time and patience to gather them...

I mean unless i'm wrong and they do actually DO soemthing?

 

[Irridium]

Achivements are both good and bad.

good because it encourages people to explore and experience the games in differant ways, bad because if the game has multiplaer achievements, then thats all people are interested in online.

Ever had this conversation is Gears of War 1?

P1 "No one get the sniper, I need the achievement"

P2 "No I need the sniper, I'm closer to the achievement"

P1 "You are a noob, you suck with the sniper anyway"

P3 "You're both noobs, I have the achievement and am working toward my Seriously achievement"

Me "Can we just play the game and have fun?"

Everyone else "Shut up noob!"

at the end everyone is dead because all they did was argue and not pay attention.
I'm alive and everyone expects me to win against 4 other people.

Plus, most friends I have don't want to play with me on most of my online games, just because "They got the achievements already" or the game doesn't have online achievements.

 

[Midnghtjade83]

I'm going to agree with the people on here that are saying Achievements are just a natural progression in gaming.

Cheats, secret rooms, art galleries, what have you, have been around for a looong time. Doesn't anyone else remember the feeling of accomplishment when the wall slid back in Wolfenstein to reveal a treasure trove? No, well then that's cool too.

Some people (myself included) enjoy finding the little things in games and probably enjoy achievements too. But they aren't for everyone and it doesn't lessen the gameplay experience to not to them. They're just a fun extra.